So here goes. I've recently spent a little time experimenting with new techniques in some of my favorite mediums. In sewing, I tried out 'confetti quilting' which I had seen in some art quilts a while back. It's often used to create leaves on landscape quilts, like in this image from craftsy:
I wanted to try something a little different with mine, so I decided to use it as a background for applique. Then I just needed to find the right image for it. I scrolled through tons of my digital photos and finally settled on this one from my garden a few years ago.
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| I don't have a green thumb, but bulb flowers are pretty easy. |
I traced out that front flower on freezer paper and used it as a pattern. I gathered a bunch of earth-tones to cut tiny pieces for the confetti background, and found some butterfly print cotton in my stash to use for the flower petals. The finished result turned out better than I'd hoped and became my dad's Father's Day gift once I found a mat & frame for it. Those gold bits in the middle to represent the stamens? Those are part of the butterfly wing print. I positioned the pattern pieces for each petal to put those in the right spots.
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The next new thing I tried was 3D collage. Now, I've done some 3D collage before with fabric and thread. The only paper involved were some tarot cards I attached. (examples below)
and I've done collages that were just paper and glue, like these:
But I wanted to do something in between, and had the idea of creating art around a photograph of a person. I started with a canvas and some paint. I had no real plan in mind here, but I wanted a background for the finished product. I did a few messy, blended layers of acrylic paint, trying out different things to get a splotchy, interesting background. Then I started gluing on texture. Some torn bits of text from old books and magazines, pieces of sheer ribbon, a few bits of old lace doilies, even random snippets of frayed cotton thread. Some of that got painted over again. I pulled out the hairdryer to dry parts of it faster.
Now here's where I wish I had taken process pictures, but I didn't. Once the background was dry, I cut out the photo - this one happened to be my cousin because I had 2 large prints of this photo available. (How and why my mom ended up with 2 16x20 prints of my cousin's 1 year photo is beyond me, but is not the most confusing thing I inherited.)
So, I cut out the photo, attach it to the canvas, and start covering the edges with flowers I cut out from various magazines. There are random bits of ribbon, some paper flowers by her head, a collection of buttons and shiny bobbles, and a few tiny mirror squares. I found the quote "you've come a long way baby" while searching for flowers and decided it was the perfect thing to put on here, too.
Response from the cousin in question when I sent a photo was "wow" further clarified as "good wow with a little wtf?" I know it's a little unusual, but hey, so am I. I think I like it, but I'm still considering. And like, what other ideas could I use here? I think I want to make some more, with different materials, but that's the trouble - finding materials for this kind of work isn't easy.
